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Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Tonight I took the Jetta off of my body cart and blocked it up on the ground. This is approximately at ride height, 1-1/2" from the ground.

The engine and bay look so different from this perspective! My body cart puts the car about 12-13" higher than it will really sit, which changes the look of everything.

More supplies. I bought some Lord Fusor 112B to glue the new roof skin in place, some Fusor mixing tips, and a fresh roll of 2' 3M yellow masking tape. I also picked up some new tools - some carbide burrs, M4 and #6-32 taps (along with their respective tap drills) to complete my tap set, a set of Wiha precision screwdrivers to complete my screwdriver drawer, and a few grinding discs.

Down to business. No turning back now!! I ground away the spot welds on the factory roof using my Dynafile and a die grinder. This is much faster than drilling, it only took me about 45 minutes to remove the skin after I got everything in place.

Gone!

After the skin was removed, I cleaned all of the paint, rust, coating, and seam sealer off of the flanges where the new skin will glue. The bond line must be completely clean and properly sanded to achieve the best strength, Fusor recommends a bare steel to bare steel bond. I will save the final sanding for the last minute before I glue it so there is no chance for corrosion in the bond.

I cleaned off the stock rear crossmember as well. I'm not sure if I will be using the stock crossmembers, the members from my first donor roof, or the members from the new donor roof. I cleaned them up anyway, they're easy enough to install and remove.